30/06/21 Thursday
Ruth is feeling a bit under the weather. So she didn't swim in the Atlantic Ocean. We found a good place for breakfast and both decided on fried eggs with jamón serrano and toast. Alright, the toast is only brown on one side, but the bread is nice.
You can guess which plate is mine.
Ruth had done some magic with the bus booking system and got us 2 seats on the 14.30 bus back to Santiago. So we had a few hours to kill. Let's be honest, there's not much to see in Muxía. We wandered off to the harbour to look at the murals. Some were so- so. Others were really good.
Then it wasawalk to get to the top of the hill on this peninsula.
We found this church and Bell Tower. It was about 10.00 and this guy was ringing the bells. He obviously liked an audience because he must have rung the 23 o'clock bells whilst we were watching.
The land up here is what I'd call marginal. But it was neatly divided into plots separated by drystone walls. However nearly all had not been looked after in years.
My guess, is that these were owned by the fishermen's families and were vegetable plots.
Whilst walking back into town we came upon net drying racks. Again, it looked as if they hadn't been used in a while. Also they were on the opposite side of the peninsula to the harbour.
Two other things we noticed in Muxía.
A lot of the fish mongers are run by women.
Lace making is the local craft for women.
I'm guessing the women, clean, prepare and sell the fish, whilst the men go fishing. And the lace making skills are maybe an offshoot of fishing net creation and repair skills. Although these days, nearly all fishing nets are plastic.
A lot of the buildings appeared to have sidewalls covered in painted corrugated iron. I could be wrong, but it seemed odd to me.
We got back and vacated the room. We had a couple of hours or so before the bus arrived. So, time for a drink and some lunch. We went back to 'A Marina', the place we went for breakfast. Mind you, there were few places open. The drinks came with pinchos. But I had a great plate of langoustines. It even came with some salad! Ruth just watched me eat, although she managed a slice of tomato. Which was sad in some ways, but great in others, as I ate all the langoustines which were great.
I'll include a picture of the menu board, so if you're ever in these parts...
I thanked the owner for very good service and food and I've posted a good review on TripAdvisor.
And we even managed to see Three Wise Monkeys. Sorry, its a stealth picture, so I only got half of one monkey. But Ruth spotted them, so I do have corroboration.
And Inez and her husband passed by and said "Hello, and Farewell". It really is coming to an end.
Now it was bus time. Remember that we now had tickets for the 1415 and the 1600. But the 1415 turned up on time and we loaded our gear on. Now for the tickets. Remember that we had booked online and Ruth had hunted through the website, as for some reason, known only to them, they didn't automatically send the QR codes to the booker but she now had QR codes on her phone. He scanned the first code, no problem. He scanned the second - didn't recognise it. I noticed he was scanning using his own phone. It seemed like it recognised the first code but not subsequent ones. So he just let us on. And repeated the same process with all 20 or so passengers.
We were not looking happily to a 3 hour bus trip again, going backwards and forwards over the same roads as we went to Santiago by way of Finisterre.
Whilst waiting for the bus to take on more passengers, using the defective ticketing system, we spotted Micha 'Mr Blue Leg'. Unfortunately, by the time we saw him he was too far away to hear us banging on the bus window. But I'm glad he completed his Camino.
It says how boring the bus trip was, that we were both excited to see the Hungarian Albergue again.
The picture is a bit blurred, but was taken through the bus window, driving through town.
Then we wondered how many people had walked the Camino and ended up staying in Spain.
Ruth decided to change the room booking from a dormitory to a hotel, using the wonders of mobile phones and O2 data roaming, all from her seat on the bus. Spending the last night in a dormitory, whilst not feeling great, we could both do without.
When I say we were on a bus, think huge Stagecoach type coach. Roundabouts are a big thing in Galicia. Unfortunately they aren't designed for coaches. Neither are the hairpin bends and turns in the road. Never drive on a roundabout when a coach is trying to negotiate it. So the journey had some interesting lessons in Galicia road etiquette. However I loved this mural on the way in to Santiago.
The hotel was nice. We just needed details of the bus service to the airport for the morning. With a bit of ducking and diving we worked out where and when to be next morning.
Off out into Santiago for a drink and some food. We stopped at a couple of places and ended up at our favourite bar.
We finally got a pizza delivered from the local Italian Pizzeria. It was a really nice thin and crispy Arabiatta. Ruth even managed a slice or two.
The bar owner was a very nice guy and produced tasty pinchos, decent beer and a very nice vino blanco. Top tip in Spain - ask the barman for a good wine. It's usually not much more expensive, but tastes a lot better and they're pleased you asked their opinion. The beer I drank was the Caravan lager. I also drank the Stu Moston Finback IPA on a previous occasion.
Then back to the room for a good night's sleep, bus hunting and back to the UK.
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